What can you tell me about Sewers?

Hi! I'm sure this has been covered some time in the past and may seem somewhat simple to many of you, but, what are the repercussions of the sewer not working, or getting backed up, and what should be done to counter this concern?

Answers

hi Apple :-)
There were a bunch of Sewer threads around the beginning of
November.
Look under "Utilities" in the archives, scroll down.
Some had excellent explanations written by Robert Cook and others.
Arewyn also started a good thread thereabouts.
One thing to remember is, if sewage backs up and inundates the
apt/house, it smells, worse & worse, and breeds disease.
Under normal circumstances the dwelling might be condemned
uninhabitable until very thoroughly cleaned, but if 1000s of homes are
up $#!+ creek all at the same time, where will the manpower be to
evacuate everybody?

This issue is, after looting, one of the most troubling to
contemplate.

Cold, dark, etc is dealable, but sewage ... not so.

Anyway, don't have the steam to repeat what's on those earlier good
threads ... happy digging ;-D

One more time -- just to dot the i's and cross the t's-- if there's no power, there's no running water, and without water nothing much will be flowing in the sanitary sewers. Storm sewers carry storm water -- rain & snow melt -- but in most systems storm sewers are separate from sanitary sewers.

I have looked at the utility threads below, and cannot find the most
important info: How do I prevent the sewer from backing up?? Is there
a lever I can throw, or a valve I can turn??? What is a plumbers
balloon? Any simple answers would be really appreciated.

I would like to say thank you to Ed Yourdon, and all the others who
contribute to this forum. It is a real pleasure to learn from you
all.

Apple and Richard; At what relative elevation are you located? Most
sewer lines flow by gravity to treatment plants. Pumps service low
lying areas. They could be uninhabitable if electricity or pumping
controls fail. This is one of the conundrums that are influencing
some folks to consider relocation. Best wishes,

I'm on septic not sewer, however, if I were on sewer and lived in a
low lying area, I would open up the cleanout, attach a pipe to it and
run it out to the street. Or dig up your sewer where it connects to
the street and let the sewage run down the storm drains instead of
into your house. May want to purchase some extra plywood to build a
temporary outhouse in your backyard, and don't forget bags of lye. I
would be concerned about typhoid and hepatitis so take precaution
ITSHTF.

The plumbers balloon is a small bag that you insert into the sewer
pipe and fill it up WITH WATER. If there is no electricity to run the
sewer pumps, there will also be no electricity to pump the water to
fill the plumbers balloon. The domino effect again. The ball valve is
the best bet. At least find the service hole where a PCV cap can be
removed to remove obstructions in the pipe. Perhaps a small log
could be cut to fit into this opening so that it would block the flow
if the sewer started to backup. At least the cover could be left off
so that the overflow is in the yard instead of in the house. Yuk.

WOW is right. I cannot believe Puddintame replied to my post. I am all
aquiver, in fact I feel like a school girl!! Or at least what I
imagine school girls feel like. :D Thanks for the reply, really, I am
calling a plumber asap for my backflow device. Do I really need the
sewer authority to inspect things? Are you saying I may not really
need??? I am on level ground. I can see that if I were at the top of a
hill, I might not need to worry.
Mark H>- I took my discharge, so am no longer on active duty. But you
are right. Where is a good sailor when you need one???
Watchful- I am in the tidewater region of Virginia. Dig 3 feet, and
hit water. Is that bad for me??? Will this backflow device work??? I
own my home, and do not want to flee to my friends farm, but may if
forced to, etc. Do not want to abandon simply due to sewage.
Bardou- I have two chemical toilets for this very reason. But I have
delayed in tackaling the subject of sewer backflow.

After having just finished a very informative conversation with my
local wastewater utility, I can DEFINITELY recommend that you make a
call to yours. I discovered that I am less than 50 feet from a
pumping station, the sewage will flow downhill right past me, and in a
worst case scenario, if the pumping station fails, it will dump into
the nearby river (the analogy used was that even that would be like
dumping a cup of water into a swimming pool). Elevation is
everything. Apparently, so is location to pumping stations, and maybe
even water. A friend lives near a lake and he told me she would have
the same situation.

Now the only thing we need to be concerned about is whether water will
be provided to FLUSH the johns! Hope this helps!